USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Taunton > Quarter millinnial celebration of the city of Taunton, Massachusetts, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 4 and 5, 1889 > Part 10
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Having brought you in this expeditious manner out of ancient history, I refer you, for the later record, to the brave and tried soldier of the last war, Capt. Geo. A. Washburn.
RESPONSE BY CAPT. GEO. A. WASHBURN.
The history of Taunton in the early wars has been eloquently told by the Orator of the Day. In the few moments allotted to me I can only give a very brief review of Taunton's work in the great Rebellion. At the outbreak of this war, this city, then a town, had one company of Volunteer Militia, Co. "G," attached to the 4th Regiment of Infantry.
It had but one commander from its organization, until the close of its service for the first three months of the war, Captain Timothy Gordon. This company was ordered into service by special messenger on the morning of April 16, 1861-the requi- sition from Washington upon the Governor of this Commonwealth for twenty companies having been telegraphed to Boston on the day previous, April 15. On the 27th day of April, eleven days after the departure of Co. "G," a legal town meeting was held and the town voted to furnish each soldier who should enlist from Taunton a full uniform, to pay him $15, and such a sum as should make his pay $26 a month. The committee appointed consisted of Thompson Newbury. Samuel L. Crocker, Henry Williams, Lovett Morse, Harrison Tweed, L. B. Church and S. O. Dunbar.
During the absence of this company at Fortress Monroe and vicinity, the most vigorous measures for recruiting a three years' regiment from this vicinity were pursued. The Seventh Regiment of Infantry was the result. This regiment was mustered in June 15th, 1861, for three years. The colonel was a soldier whom Taunton has always honored, Darius N. Couch. In this year, 1861, five companies distinctively belonging to Taunton were recruited, Companies C, D and F, of the 7th Regiment, Company B, 18th Regiment, Company C, 22d Regiment. Taunton furnish- ed men in other companies in the same regiments.
The cost to the town in 1861, was bounties, 5,085.00, other expenses, 12,782.28, a total of $17,867.28 ; and 493 men enlisted, of whom 154 received no bounty.
The same methods of recruiting were followed in 1862, that is, local companies were recruited so that the regiments raised prior to July, 1863, contained companies enlisted entirely from a locality and whose members had been former associates.
In 1862, Co. B, 33d Regiment, Capt. James Brown ; Co. F, 39th Regiment, Capt. J. J. Cooper, both companies enlisting for
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three years, and Co. G, Capt. C. H. Paull and Co. K, Capt. W. H. Bartlett both attached to the 4th Regiment and whose term of ser- vice was nine months, were recruited.
On the 14th of August, 1862, at a town meeting, it was voted, that a bounty of $200, be paid to each volunteer, enlisting for three years. At a meeting held August 26, it was voted that a bounty of $100 be paid to each volunteer, for nine months, these bounties to be paid to those soldiers who enlisted as a part of the quota of Taunton. The number enlisting in 1862 was 170 three years men, and 166 nine months men. Bounties paid, $65,800.00, other expenses, $500, total, $66,300.00.
It would seem that by January, 1863, the military ardor had much abated, and that voluntary enlistments had almost ceased. It had been discovered that other methods than voluntary enlist- ments must be adopted to fill the ranks and this contingency Con- gress provided for by law. On the 29th day of April, 1863, Capt. J. W. D. Hall, was appointed Provost Marshal of the 2d District. His associates upon the Board were Nathaniel Wales of Stoughton and Henry B. Hubbard, M. D., of Taunton.
The first draft was held in Taunton, July 15, 1863, and the first man drafted from Taunton was Alfred Martin. The entire number of men drafted was 3,260; exempted for various causes, 1,880; 'number drafted who served in person, 64; recruits furn- ished, 569; substitutes, 643; amount of commutation paid by drafted men, $94,800. One result or out-come of the draft was a great stimulation of those liable to involuntary service.
On the 3d of December, 1863, a meeting of citizens was held in the interest of those liable to draft and a committee chosen consisting of T. Newbury, H. Tweed, S. L. Crocker, S. O. Dun- bar, L. B. Church, E. H. Bennett, Jas. Brown, Sam'l A. Dean, C. L. Lovering, Alex. Hodges, Alfred Paull and N. S. Williams. On the 17th of December following, another meeting was held and Geo. M. Woodward was chosen treasurer, to receive contribu- tions which committees chosen at the foregoing meetings were ac- tively soliciting. The number of men enlisted in 1863 was 308; bounties paid, $26,505 ; other expenses, $439.56
In the spring of 1864, Allen Presbrey, Abram Briggs and Na- than S. Williams were elected selectmen. Messrs. Briggs and Williams, together with Capt. Wm. H. Phillips, were constituted by the citizens a board of trustees to have entire charge of recruiting, to receive and hold moneys contributed and to expend the same in filling the quotas. Geo. A. Washburn was chosen secretary and treasurer of this board and so continued until the close of the war, By the active exertions of this Board, drafts were averted,
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the quotas promptly filled and while many towns in the state lost heavily by reason of having their recruits taken from them fraudu- lently, it is believed that Taunton held all its own and "a little over." The total quotas of Taunton for 1864 were 356; bounties paid, $84,803; other expenses, $804.39 ; total in 1864 $85,607.39. Enlistments continued without cessation in the spring of 1865 and unremitting efforts were made to avert a draft. Agents were em- ployed among the veteran regiments to secure re-enlistments in the field. But little idea of the labors performed by the selectmen and the recruiting committee can be conveyed in this short sketch, nor can it now be comprehended to what extent a dread of the draft pervaded the whole community.
The total number of men furnished by Taunton upon calls and requisitions for troops, including 159 men assigned in the navy, who had enlisted before quotas were thought of was 1,652, at a total cost of $196,719.23. The citizens contributed $62,383.00, showing a net cost to the town of $134,336.23.
No sooner had the war closed than Taunton prepared to pay its war debt, which, exclusive of assets, was at the close of the war $112,000. Under the administration of Hon. E. H. Bennett, the debt was funded on a term of ten years, bonds were issued for $ 100,000, and the notes existing, mostly on short time, were paid, and a sink- ing fund, with annual instalments to be raised by taxation created. This fund was so well invested, that in seven years after its estab- lishment, or in 1873, during the administration of Hon. Wm. H. Fox, the last assessment was made, and in Hon. Geo. H. Babbitt's administration the debt was paid.
The payments for bounties during 1861 and 1862 were of more than doubtful legality, yet such was the necessity of the occasion, that the people became a law unto themselves and loans were made and the proceeds paid from the treasury with little sanction or question of law. But, the debt was long since paid and is a thing of the past.
Before closing, I wish to say a few words concerning Co. "F," Ist Regiment, our present sole company of militia. It should have the abundant support of the community. The militia is the school. Wm. Schouler, adjutant general of Massachusetts during the entire war, says that Taunton furnished fifty-nine commissioned officers during the Rebellion. When you consider that not less than twenty-five of this number were graduates of the Taunton Light Guard, and went to Fortress Monroe, with that Company, you can realize the advantage of maintaining a good militia company in your midst. So, let Company F have such an interest with you, that its stability shall not be questioned.
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Taunton in the great Rebellion did her whole duty. She filled every quota and had sixty three men to spare at the end of the war. We have reason to be proud of her record.
In this brief recital I have no time for a rehearsal of much that would interest you. It all seems like a dream and were it not that you see in your midst those organizations, the Grand Army of the Republic whose members bear on their persons honorable scars, and the Sons of Veterans, we might in the enjoyment of our great prosperity, forget that the war cloud ever hung so low above us, or that our homes were draped in black by reason of sorrow for our young men who died on the field of battle.
In our Historical Hall is an old flag, worn to fragments almost, yet about whose every fold lingers a tender memory. It is the flag of old Company "G" which first of all went from your midst. On it is borne this legend : "Fidelity to duty, whenever it may call, wherever it may lead."
So may it always be with our own ancient town and in time to come as in the past may she always be found in the van when duty calls.
The Taunton Lawyers :- One only needs to mention the names of White, Tillinghast, Paine, Parsons, Merrick, Colby, and Morton, to show how illustrious the Taunton Bar has been. In speaking of the Bar of to-day, modesty compels me to use the words of another :
"The fathers sleep, but men remain As wise, as true, as brave as they ; Why count the loss and not the gain? The best is that we have today."
If any one questions the aptness of this quotation, I beg leave to refer him to one who has full liberty to speak for himself and his brethren; the Hon. William E. Fuller, Judge of the Probate Court.
RESPONSE BY HON. W. E. FULLER.
How can I worthily speak of that profession whose history in this ancient shire town includes the career of Samuel White, first lawyer in Bristol County and by character and attainments fit to be the first,-whose fame it was as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives during the Stamp Act, to sign the circu- lar calling the first Colonial convention, meeting in New York in
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1765; of Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration,-attorney general both before and after the revolution, member of the Gov- ernor's Council, and a Judge of the Supreme Court; of Daniel Leonard who, though a loyalist in the revolution and becoming a political exile, achieved the distinction of becoming Chief Justice in a foreign land; of John Mason Williams, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas; of the elder Marcus Morton, Congress- man, Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, Governor of the Com- monwealth; of Francis Baylies, Congressman, foreign minister, scholar, historian; of Chester I. Reed, who, though dying at middle age, had achieved high distinction at the bar, and had filled® the positions of senator, attorney general, and Judge of the Supe- rior Court; and (if I may be pardoned for mentioning the living) of the learned doctors Bennett and Ordronaux, eminent law schol- ars and authors known wherever the common law is known.
And I may add that our Bar claims a certain kinship with, and feels a just pride in that distinguished son of Taunton, whose hereditary instinct for the law, whose learning, long experience and high character as a jurist sheds fresh lustre upon a name long noted in the Old Colony, and adds new honor to the preeminent position of Chief Justice of the Commonwealth ; nor let me close this shining roll before I name Henry Goodwin, practicing here near the close of the last century, and later, attorney general in a neighboring state; David Leonard Barnes, his contemporary who became Judge of the United States District Court for the State of Rhode Island; Seth Padelford, for a quarter of a century Probate Judge in Bristol County and widely known in his time as a sound and trustworthy councillor; and it may be of interest to lawyers to recall that he was first president of the first Bar Association organ- ized in the Old Colony, including in its membership the lawyers of Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable; properly too may I name George T. Davis, in practice here in 1831 and afterwards a Massachusetts Senator and a representative in Congress from the Greenfield Dis- trict; Pliny Merrick, who with high distinction filled in turn the office of Judge both of the Common Pleas and of the Supreme Judicial Court; Theophilus Parsons, son of the great Chief Justice of that name, a law partner at one time with Francis Baylies and afterwards Dane Professor in the Law School of Harvard Univer- sity, and well known as lecturer and an author of several law text books; H .G . O. Colby, author of the Massachusetts Practice and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; and Horatio Pratt, well re- membered by the older members of the bar as a formidable antag- onist, and for a time Commonwealth's Attorney in this district.
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Need I name Henry Williams, whose recent death we deplore, a man of refined manners, of scholarly tastes, of unswerving rec- titude and greatly interested in our local history. He was Vice President of the Old Colony Historical Society and a member of the committee appointed to take preliminary measures for this cele- bration. At the time of his death, he was the senior member of the Bristol County Bar. Many years ago he represented this dis- trict during two terms of Congress. He was also a member of the last Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention. He was a descendant in the seventh generation of Richard Williams, fore- most among those early settlers of Cohannet whom we this day especially honor.
I may also mention that Samuel Sumner Wilde, who for thirty five years was a Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, was a na- tive of Taunton. He studied law here in the office of Judge Barnes but removed to the State of Maine before entering the Bar.
And what citizen of Taunton whose memory goes back to a period before the war will not recall the venerable form of Anselm Bassett, the veteran of the bar-who was in active practice nearly fifty seven years, covering the entire official terms of Chief Jus- tices Parsons, Sewall, Parker and Shaw.
The former lawyers of Taunton :- in response to the call on this memorable day what familiar names rise up in the memory.
There were Breck and Burgess son of Tristam, Cushing and Cobb son of the sturdy old General, Dean, Danforth and Ellis and Hodges, Sanford, District Attorney, and the Sproats in three gen- erations, filling the office of Clerk of Courts in two, Tillinghast and Townsend and Vickery. All these and perhaps others whom my memory now fails to summon from the shades of the past, have in their day and generation according to the measure of their ability and honor aided in administering the law among the citizens of Taunton.
"The Mayors' Club" :- Taunton has been a city for twenty four years but it is only for three years that her mayors have belonged to a convivial crowd called the Mayors' Club. Many of that club we are glad to see with us to-day, and I am going to call on the president of the club to tell us how our mayors behave when they get away from home. I present to you the Hon. Hugh O'Brien of Boston.
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RESPONSE BY HON. HUGH O'BRIEN.
Mr. President :-
I consider it a great privilege to be present on this occasion, to unite with you in celebrating your two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and to congratulate you on the growth and prosperity of the past two hundred and fifty years.
As President of the Mayors' Club, I am also authorized to ex- tend to you the heartiest greetings from every city in the Common- wealth. We all rejoice in your prosperity. Quite a number of the mayors are present, and if it were not for the unfavorable weather almost every city in the Commonwealth would have been repre- sented by her chief magistrate. Your toastmaster alludes to the social feature of the Mayors' Club. On this point I will merely say that we are guided largely by the temperance principles of your excellent chief magistrate.
The city of Taunton possesses many natural advantages for building up manufacturing industries, but these advantages would not amount to much were it not for the enterprise, the industry and the integrity of your business men. In Boston we feel the in- fluence of this enterprise. One of the finest structures in Boston to-day, the Mason Building, was erected by one of your leading manufacturers from the product of his workshop in Taunton. It was the pioneer of those large buildings now in process of erec- tion and in contemplation, and has added largely to our taxable valuation. As your historian very truly remarked, in his very able and eloquent address, that Taunton was largely indebted to citi- zens of Dorchester, now a prominent part of Boston, for its early settlement, it is very proper now for the wealthy citizens of Taun- ton to help us build up the leading commercial city of New England, the home of many of their ancestors.
These centennial celebrations are events that forcibly recall the past landmarks that mark our progress. It was only a few weeks ago, when, in the great city of New York, we celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of President Wash- ington. What a history these one hundred years recall. When Washington was inaugurated President in 1789, the population of the country was a little more than 3,000,000 people. Now, after the lapse of one hundred years our population is about 65,000,000 people. I repeat what a wonderful history, what a marvellous growth and prosperity! I should feel proud to-day, after listening to your honorable record and progress for the past two hundred and fifty years, if I could call myself a citizen of Taunton, but we must all feel proud that we are citizens of this great Republic whose growth and prosperity have been so wonderful.
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You, citizens of Taunton. have reached the venerable age of two hundred and fifty years, but as a city your existence only goes back twenty-four years, and as a city you are youthful and vigor- ous. Your city is recognized by the Mayors' Club as one of the prominent cities of the Commonwealth, your municipal govern- ment has always been excellent, your schools and institutions of learning, your charitable institutions and your homes for the poor and unfortunate compare favorably with any other city in the state. We hope that this prosperity will continue for generations to come. I am aware that time is precious on these centennial celebrations and will detain you no longer.
The Press of Taunton, past and present :- You may now be thinking of our venerable fellow citizen who for forty years, as a faithful and efficient journalist gave us all the daily and weekly news we needed to know. Perhaps I ought not to call a man venerable whose step is still as elastic as a boy's, but it will have to be admitted that for about four score years he has stood erect under a name which, very appropriately, is a whole encyclopedia of the early settlers- John Williams Dean Hall. But Capt. Hall is now indulg- ing his antiquarian tastes and has left editorial work to
younger men. So upon a younger man I will call. I am happy to present to you the Hon. William Reed, Jr., of the Taunton Daily Gazette, who for the last seventeen years has labored with gratifying success to make his pen mightier than his-scissors.
RESPONSE BY HON. WILLIAM REED, JR.
Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen :-
He who brings up the rear of an oratorical procession has as hard a place as the last straggler of an army corps. Hence the policy of brevity to escape from trouble as soon as possible. It will not take long to tell the story of the press of the early days of Taunton. There was none. The town had no newspaper from 1639 to 1820-a period of 181 years. The seaport settlements, with their varied mercantile interests, their men who were like those old Athenians-continually asking after some new thing- learned the value of ink and paper much sooner than the farmers
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of the interior. The people of Taunton, like most of the rural neighborhoods, were content to depend upon Boston and Newport for glimpses of the outside world, and upon each other for the gossip of the village exchanged at the church door or the country store. In 1820 the first weekly newspaper was born, and it still lives in the Republican, vigilant and prosperous. In 1848 the first daily appeared-the Gazette-and that paper can speak for itself to-day much better than I can speak for it. Journalism once introduced became firmly rooted. Every appliance to expedite or lighten labor, gather or disseminate the news, was promptly adopted. The press grew with the town, and it can be safely said that the newspaper offices of Taunton are as well equipped to-day and as prompt to serve the public as those of any other provincial city of New England. That the press of Taunton will ever be ready to mirror the record of the day I can with assurance predict. That it will be the mainstay of the orator of the next centennial celebration is certain, and by its industry he will have a far easier time in groping among the shadows of the past than the eloquent gentleman who has done that work for us to-day. The press of the past and the present has been devoted to the best interests of the city. There will be no falling off in the efforts of the press of the future. It will go on from strength to strength.
His Excellency, Governor Herbert W. Ladd, of Rhode Island, being present, with his Staff, was prepared to re- spond for Rhode Island, as follows :-
This great anniversary, which we are celebrating, has more than a passing interest for me, for although the neighboring state of Rhode Island has adopted me, fostered and kindly invested me with honors far beyond my merits, I cannot forget that I am a Bristol County boy; that in the adjacent city of New Bedford I was born, reared and learned what it is to be an American citizen.
When I received the invitation to participate in these festivi- ties with you, a pardonable feeling of pride took possession of me, and I looked forward with great pleasure to this visit to the old town of my youthful associations, which has a place of warm af- fection in my heart, and where I spent many pleasant hours. In reviewing its history, the wonderful power of endurance of the men and women at the time of its settlement is most forcibly brought to my mind. From all stations in life they came, from the daughter of a nobleman to the honest yeoman. .
Just three years ago the good old City of Providence from which I came to-day, celebrated her 250th anniversary with similar
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rejoicings and without any disloyalty to that dear little but sturdy State into which I have had the honor of being engrafted, I feel to-day the same pride that I felt on that occasion. I was proud of ancient Providence with her grand history of progress and I am proud to-day of having been born in the same county that contains this old Taunton of historic fame.
It gives me pleasure in behalf of Rhode Island to extend to Taunton and her good citizens the warmest congratulations on this happy event, and to hope that the prosperity of which there is such abundant evidence present, may continue.
The business and social relations existing between the people of Bristol County and Rhode Island are exceedingly close and in- timate. Rhode Island has been very kind to the sons of Massa- chusetts. Three consecutive Governors were born in the Bay State, two of them in this Bristol County. There is my good friend Davis, most appropriately called "Honest John Davis" who was elected to the highest office in the State and who left behind him a most honorable record. He was born in Bristol County. Fol- lowing him came Hon. Royal C. Taft whom many of you know and of whose faithful service the people of Rhode Island are still talk- ing. He is a Massachusetts man. Last as I have said, New Bed- ford was my birthplace.
You cannot give too great honor to the memory of those who settled this town, and I feel assured that the next two hundred and fifty years will advance Taunton even more than the last have done.
Hon. Elijah A. Morse, Congressman elect from the Second Massachusetts District, was a guest of the city dur- ing the Celebration. He was prepared to respond to the toast,-"The Congress of the United States, " had the time permitted. By urgent invitation of the Committee, he furn- ished what he would have said, as follows :-
I feel honored by being invited as a guest upon this interest- ing occasion ; but perhaps the emotion and inclination uppermost in all our hearts to-day would be to pause amid our festivities and let fall a tear of sorrow and sympathy with the sufferers by the sudden and appalling providence of God that has overtaken a section of our country. We cannot understand it, but we will obey the command, "Be still and know that I am God, " and "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
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